There’s no telling what kind of sacrifices Tacoma’s firefighters union may be offering as it privately negotiates with city administrators to preserve positions and public safety. The big thing is that they’re negotiating in the first place.

The Great Recession has not been kind to public unions. In the rising economic tide that preceded it, many of them had won very generous compensation from local and state officials they’d helped put in office.

Unions in the private sector should have it so good. Private-sector unions can’t vote for the people they face …

Public employees – including those who work for the City of Tacoma and Pierce Transit – should be contemplating the implications of Wednesday’s elections in Wisconsin and California.

One lesson seems obvious: Given a choice between funding vital public services and funding union benefits that often far surpass the average worker’s, voters will take the services.

Even Democratic voters. Wisconsinites – who on Wednesday effectively endorsed severe restrictions on their state’s public unions – haven’t turned into gangs of company goons. Many citizens cast ballots in defense of their “union-busting” governor, …

Political drama doesn’t get much richer than what’s unfolded in Wisconsin the last few days.

Democrats fleeing the state. Republicans dispatching state troopers to catch their leader. Tens of thousands of demonstrators mobbing the Capitol.

Behind it is a dead serious issue: the extraordinary power public unions have exercised over government budgets.

In Wisconsin, the backlash against government unions has taken the form of a GOP drive to repeal collective bargaining for most public-sector employees. Similar drives are happening in other states where Republicans recently won governorships and gained control over legislatures. …